This time last year I presented at A&E with chest pains and was in the Resuscitation Unit for 5 hours
At the time I was on no medication though the surgery had already picked up on an irregular heart beat and 2 years earlier I had had an echo cardiogram
The hospital prescribed Bisoprolol 7.5 mg betablockers and Apixaban 5mg x2 bloodthinners
The chest pain has never returned and I voluntarily gave up all caffeine which got rid of my night episodes of rapid heart beats (SVT= supra ventricular tachycardia)
After an Angiogram in December a Joint Cardiology Conference recommended a quadruple heart bypass and by then my prescription had been increased to include Clopidogrel 75 mg anti clotting, Atorvastatin to reduce cholesterol, and Isosorbide Mononitrates 60 mg to open blood vessels
I then developed constant diarrhoea for all January and February which I found totally demoralising
I asked a doctor at the surgery if the prescription could be changed His reaction was to refer me to the hospital for colorectal surgery! He all but clicked his heels together as he showed me the door
Fortunately the very day I was given for a colonoscopy I already had an appointment at another hospital to see a heart surgeon
I explained my position and he very sympathetically and kindly indicated that I should drop the medication which I thought was causing the problem
I therefore went back to taking the original prescription and the diarrhoea miraculously disappeared overnight
Recently the surgery have picked up on my getting repeat prescriptions just for the Bisoprolol and Apixaban and I was required to phone in about it
This led to a "tense" discussion with the most senior doctor in the practice
As a result I now have the Bisoprolol and Apixaban and Clopidogrel and then Lansoprazole 30 mg which I believe gives a protective coating to the stomach and then Rosuvastatin instead of Atorvastatin and no Nitrates
So far so good with the medication It looks as if it was the Nitrates causing the diarrhoea though nothing has been said officially
I did mention that the Bisoprolol at 7.5 mg seems a bit high compared with other prescriptions I have heard of-such as 2.5 mg or even lower and I believe 10 mg is the maximum
However this suggestion was brushed aside rather like Melania getting rid of Donald Trump's hand that time
All in all a useful exercise in learning how the system works